1972 Minnesota Twins season

1972 Minnesota Twins
77-77, third in the AL Western Division
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Western Division (since 1969)
Location
Metropolitan Stadium (since 1961)
Bloomington, Minnesota (since 1961)
Other information
Owner(s)	Calvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
General manager(s)	Calvin Griffith
Manager(s)	Bill Rigney, Frank Quilici
Local television	WTCN-TV (Halsey Hall, Frank Buetel, Lynn Faris)
Local radio	830 WCCO AM (Herb Carneal, Halsey Hall, Ray Christensen)
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The 1972 Minnesota Twins finished 77-77, third in the American League West.

Offseason

• October 22, 1971: Paul Powell was traded by the Twins to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Bobby Darwin.^[1]
• November 29, 1971: Brant Alyea was drafted from the Twins by the Oakland Athletics in the 1971 rule 5 draft.^[2]

Regular season

Armed Forces Day at Metropolitan Stadium, 1972.

On May 12, in a twenty-two inning match which concluded a day later, Danny Thompson went 0 for 10 with a sacrifice bunt, dropping his batting average 39 points over one game. He and César Tovar set a team record with their eleven plate appearances.

After a slow start, manager Bill Rigney was replaced by Frank Quilici in early July.

On July 9, Rich Reese hit his third pinch-hit grand slam home run, tying a major league record in doing so.

Rothsay, Minnesota, native Dave Goltz made his major league debut on July 18 -- he is the first Minnesotan drafted by the Minnesota Twins to make the big league club. He gave up one hit in 3⅔ innings.

Only one Twin made the All-Star Game: second baseman Rod Carew.

On July 31, pitcher Bert Blyleven gave up two inside-the-park home runs, both to the Chicago White Sox Dick Allen. When this next occurs in the major leagues (October 4, 1986), Blyleven is again on the mound. But the feat is accomplished this time by his Minnesota teammate Greg Gagne.

When César Tovar hit for the cycle on September 19, he finished with a game-ending home run. The only other player to do that in history was Ken Boyer (1961).^[3] In later years, and after such a hit became known as a "walk-off home run", the feat was duplicated by George Brett (1979),^[4] Dwight Evans (1984),^[5] and Carlos González (2010). Tovar is just the second Twin to hit for the cycle, after Rod Carew in 1970; eight more Twins will do so by 2009.

Carew won his second AL batting title with a .318 average. Bobby Darwin showed potential as a hitter with 22 HR and 80 RBI, but that did not make up for age and injuries taking their toll on other players. (Those numbers were also suppressed by his Twins-record 145 strikeouts.) Harmon Killebrew hit 26 HR (4th in the league) but drove in only 75 runs. Tony Oliva's bad knees limited him to only 10 games. César Tovar led the team with 86 runs scored. Four pitchers had double digit wins: Bert Blyleven (17-17), Dick Woodson (14-14), Jim Perry (13-16), and Jim Kaat (10-2). Kaat also won his 11th Gold Glove Award.

797,901 fans attended Twins games, the seventh highest total in the American League. It was almost half the number of fans that had attended just a few seasons earlier.

Season standings

AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Oakland Athletics	93	62	0.600	—	48–29	45–33
Chicago White Sox	87	67	0.565	5½	55–23	32–44
Minnesota Twins	77	77	0.500	15½	42–32	35–45
Kansas City Royals	76	78	0.494	16½	44–33	32–45
California Angels	75	80	0.484	18	44–36	31–44
Texas Rangers	54	100	0.351	38½	31–46	23–54

Record vs. opponents

1972 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	TEX
Baltimore	—	7–11	6–6	8–4	8–10	10–8	6–6	10–5	6–6	7–6	6–6	6–6
Boston	11–7	—	8–4	6–6	8–7	5–9	6–6	11–7	4–8	9–9	9–3	8–4
California	6–6	4–8	—	7–11	8–4	5–7	9–6	7–5	7–8	4–8	8–10	10–7
Chicago	4–8	6–6	11–7	—	8–4	5–7	8–9	9–3	8–6	7–5	7–8	14–4
Cleveland	10–8	7–8	4–8	4–8	—	10–8	6–6	5–10	8–4	7–11	2–10	9–3
Detroit	8–10	9–5	7–5	7–5	8–10	—	7–5	10–8	9–3	7–9	4–8	10–2
Kansas City	6–6	6–6	6–9	9–8	6–6	5–7	—	7–5	9–9	7–5	7–11	8–6
Milwaukee	5–10	7–11	5–7	3–9	10–5	8–10	5–7	—	4–8	9–9	4–8	5–7
Minnesota	6–6	8–4	8–7	6–8	4–8	3–9	9–9	8–4	—	6–6	8–9	11–7
New York	6–7	9–9	8–4	5–7	11–7	9–7	5–7	9–9	6–6	—	3–9	8–4
Oakland	6–6	3–9	10–8	8–7	10–2	8–4	11–7	8–4	9–8	9–3	—	11–4
Texas	6–6	4–8	7–10	4–14	3–9	2–10	6–8	7–5	7–11	4–8	4–11	—

Notable transactions

• May 12, 1972: Sal Butera was signed by the Twins as an amateur free agent.^[6]
• June 6, 1972: 1972 Major League Baseball draft
  • Willie Norwood was drafted by the Twins in the 3rd round.^[7]
  • Lyman Bostock was drafted by the Twins in the 26th round.^[8]

Roster

1972 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers 28 Bert Blyleven 23 Ray Corbin 16 Bob Gebhard 30 Dave Goltz 21 Wayne Granger 36 Jim Kaat 17 Dave LaRoche 32 Steve Luebber 22 Tom Norton 31 Jim Perry 19 Jim Strickland 13 Dick Woodson		Catchers 24 Glenn Borgmann 25 Rick Dempsey 15 George Mitterwald  8 Phil Roof Infielders  4 Steve Braun 29 Rod Carew 27 Bucky Guth  3 Harmon Killebrew 14 Dan Monzon 20 Rich Reese  1 Eric Soderholm  5 Danny Thompson		Outfielders 25 Mike Adams 11 Steve Brye  2 Bobby Darwin 26 Jim Holt  9 Charlie Manuel  7 Jim Nettles  6 Tony Oliva 10 Rick Renick 12 César Tovar		Manager 43 Frank Quilici 18 Bill Rigney Coaches 44 Vern Morgan 43 Frank Quilici 45 Buck Rodgers 42 Ralph Rowe 46 Al Worthington

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Borgmann, GlennGlenn Borgmann	56	175	41	.234	3	14
1B	Killebrew, HarmonHarmon Killebrew	139	433	100	.231	26	74
2B	Carew, RodRod Carew	142	535	170	.318	0	51
SS	Thompson, DannyDanny Thompson	144	573	158	.276	4	48
CF	Darwin, BobbyBobby Darwin	145	513	137	.267	22	80
RF	Tovar, CésarCésar Tovar	141	548	145	.265	2	31

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Oliva, TonyTony Oliva	10	28	9	.321	0	1
Adams, MikeMike Adams	3	6	2	.333	0	0
Guth, BuckyBucky Guth	3	3	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Blyleven, BertBert Blyleven	39	287.1	17	17	2.73	228
Woodson, DickDick Woodson	36	251.2	14	14	2.72	150
Perry, JimJim Perry	35	217.2	13	16	3.35	85
Kaat, JimJim Kaat	15	113.1	10	2	2.06	64
Goltz, DaveDave Goltz	15	91	3	3	2.67	38

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Corbin, RayRay Corbin	31	161.2	8	9	2.62	83

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Granger, WayneWayne Granger	63	4	6	19	3.01	45
LaRoche, DaveDave LaRoche	62	5	7	10	2.83	79
Gebhard, BobBob Gebhard	13	0	1	1	8.57	13
Luebber, SteveSteve Luebber	2	0	0	0	0.00	1

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Tacoma Twins	Pacific Coast League	Harry Warner
AA	Charlotte Hornets	Southern League	Johnny Goryl
A	Lynchburg Twins	Carolina League	Kerby Farrell
A	Orlando Twins	Florida State League	Early Wynn
A	Wisconsin Rapids Twins	Midwest League	Jay Ward
A	Charlotte Twins	Western Carolinas League	Bob Sadowski
Rookie	FECL Twins	Florida East Coast League	Fred Waters

Notes

1. Bobby Darwin at Baseball Reference
2. Brant Alyea at Baseball Reference
3. Retrosheet box score – St. Louis Cardinals 6, Chicago Cubs 5 (2), game played on September 14, 1961 at Busch Stadium
4. Retrosheet box score – Kansas City Royals 5, Baltimore Orioles 4, game played on May 28, 1979 at Royals Stadium
5. Retrosheet box score – Boston Red Sox 9, Seattle Mariners 6, game played on June 28, 1984 at Fenway Park
6. Sal Butera at Baseball Reference
7. Willie Norwood at Baseball Reference
8. Lyman Bostock at Baseball Reference

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
• Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com
• Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com